Camp Directors and Surprise Visitors
by bugeyedtramp
Summary: She took a deep breath. "Is it bad to say I can't bear seeing myself without you?"/ A Lumberjanes fanfiction: I tried to write some Mally angst but I love them so much I couldn't bear to leave it unresolved. Enjoy!
The problem with camp friends is that keeping in touch is hard, and keeping a budding relationship strong is harder. Things start to dissolve right before Molly's eyes, especially when she realizes that Mal has a much more exciting life than she'll ever have.

She sees her marching in a Pride Parade, and with her new band, and suddenly Mal doesn't seem that interested in her. The pictures of them- the 5 of them, at the end of the summer- only get half the amount of likes as the picture of her playfully planting a kiss on a girl's cheek.

And something small in Molly's heart shatters.

Molly stays a safe distance away then. Even when Mal is curled up in her lap or whispering things the other girls can't hear into her ear, Molly still feels a twinge of doubt deep in her stomach. It's miniscule and easily forgettable, but it's there. And she knows what it's there for: to remind her that _this won't last._

She would love to squish it underneath her foot, to take Mal's hand and run. She really and truly believes that she would have stayed in the closet if it wasn't for her. Mal makes her want to be out and proud.

She ends up coming out to her parents later, quietly and guarded. They're not pleased, but they agree not to talk much about it after her desperate and unnecessary pleading.

Things don't get much better, not until her 3rd year of being a counselor. Much to Jo's disappointment, Rosie asks Molly to take over the camp after a slip on the rocks near the lake throws her back out. She decides to hire Ripley as her assistant.

Her private cabin is definitely nicer than the Roanoke cabin. Molly can stretch out after a long day of hiking with the new campers and try not to think about her first summers there.

She keeps an eye out for her, but she knows she won't bother to come around here. April told her so.

"Mal and her band are on their _world tour,"_ she replies at breakfast, when Ripley innocently asked about her. Jo eyes Molly nervously. They had both already known, but every mention of her made Molly's heart start beating faster.

It made it all the more surprising when she shows up unannounced, her mohawk spikier and a slew of new tattoos snaking up her arms. The campers were ecstatic at the idea of a new counselor, especially one that made the director turn pink when she threw an arm around her shoulder. "Just like the good old days," she says happily.

There weren't any available bunks, she confesses to Mal after the campfire. So she ends up sleeping in Molly's cabin.

"Hey."

Molly sits up, rubbing her forearm over her eyes. Mal is stretched out on the foot of her bed, Bubbles in her lap. When Molly sees her, completely at home, she jumps and pulls up the covers.

"Molly, I need to ask."

"No, you don't."

Mal sighs. "Do you not want me here?"

"I…" She groans and shakes her head. "I don't know."

"Why don't you know?" Mal asks. She stops petting Bubbles and scoots forward on the bed until their knees are touching.

"Did I do something? You know I would never do anything to hurt you."

"Well-" Molly sighed. "You just seem like you're so involved with other girls, romantically. And I've never really clicked with anyone else."

"Oh."

"I got jealous. I'm sorry."

"No. I understand. I would feel the same if I were in your place." Mal smirked. "I'm surprised there aren't women crawling all over _you_."

Molly shoves her playfully.

"I've been trying to find other people I could spend the rest of my life with, but…" She took a deep breath. "Is it bad to say I can't bear seeing myself without you?"

Mal grinned.

"No, I can't either."

The next few weeks feel like their first summer at camp: trying to keep it a secret, and failing miserably. Ripley is the only one who hasn't noticed, eating her breakfast, blissfully ignorant; Jo and April share giddy glances across the table.

They have their wedding there, the next summer, at camp. No parents come; Mal's mother is swamped with work and Molly's family doesn't even get an invitation in the first place.

April and Ripley weave together ropes made of flowers, and Jo officiates with help from Rosie. All of the campers dress up, eager to see their camp director as happy as she was her first summer there.

And something small in Molly's heart mends.


End file.
